Clock mechanism



May 18 1926. 1,584,750

S. C. VINCENT CLOCK MECHANISM Fil ed March 2, 1921 Patented May 18 1926.

SIDNEY C. VINCENT, F BALTIMORE, MARYLAND.

CLOCK MECHANISM.

' Application filed March 2, 1921. Serial No. 13,025.

This invention relates to improvements in clock mechanisms.

Its principal object is to greatly simplify such mechanisms as are usually employed in clocks of the eight-day variety, thereby reducing the likelihood of the clock getting out of repair, and materially reducing the cost of manufacture, as well as facilitating the repairment of the mechanism, when necessary.

Under these general objects comes a very in'iportant feature in connection with the construction and arrangement of the bridge, con'imonly called escapement bridge, or the part that contains the escapement train, whereby it is very readily incorporated and combined with the other essential parts or elements of the clock, in such manner that to repair the same it is not necessary to take downthe whole clock mechanism by separating the plates that carry the various posts, gears and pinion bearings, as is necessary with mechanisms in common use.

In clock mechanisms of the character about to be described, there are usually three plates employed held together by various posts, and which serve as gear and pinion bearings for all moving parts of the clock mechanism. Under the general objects first above stated, comes the doing away completely with one of these plates, the one dispensed with being the one that is usually interposed between the front and rear plates which forms in the main the bearings for the gears and pinions through which the minute and hour hands are driven, and the escapement mechanism actuated.

In ordinary constructions the hour and minute wheels are driven by a gear on the spring barrel meshing with a pinion on a shaft mounted to one side of the barrel, which shaft carries a gear meshing with a pinion on a center shaft carried by the front and intermediate plates, the intermediate plate being the one dispensed with in the present mechanism, as well as dispensing with the center or minute shaft, commonly employed.

In the construction about to be described, I do away entirely with the center or minute shaft, in common use, and substitute therefor a stub shaft upon which are mounted the hour and minute sleeves, that is to say, the sleeves that carry the hour and minute hands.

In the drawings illustrating the invention,

Fig. l is a face view of the mechanism, the clock face and hands being removed, showing the novel arrangement of gears and pinions for driving the minute and hour hands from the outside of the front plate, or the'place from which, in ordinary constructions, the setting mechanism is blaced.

Fig. 2 is a top plan view of the mechanism, the usual escapement train being omitted.

Fig. 3 is a rear view with the rear plate removed showing the location and manner of attachment of the escapement train, some of the escapement train mechanisn'i being,

omitted.

tleferring to the drawings, the numeral 1 designates the front plate, and 2 the baclt plate, which are s1 aced apart and secured together by three posts 3, identical with each other and in no way differing from similar parts usually employed.

Mounted upon a shaft 4 having hearings in the plates 1 and 2 is a spring barrel 5, the shaft being extended through the roar plate 2 and square-d as indicated at 6 to form the usual winding post which carries the usual ratchet 7, which cooperates with a suitable pawl to prevent retrograde movement in winding the clock as usual.

The spring barrel carries gear 8 meshing with a pinion 9 on a shaft 10 mounted in suitable hearings in plates 1 and 2. Between the plates 1 and 2 and close to the front plate is a gear wheel 11, the purpose of which will be presently described. The shaft 10 extends through the front plate and is provided close to the plate with a driving gear wheel 12, frictioned tight, on shaft 10, and meshing with a pinion 13, carried by the rear end of sleeve 14: which surrounds the stub shaft 15 rigidly attached to the center of the front plate 1, and to the front end of this sleeve is attached the minute hand, not shown. Surrounding the sleeve 14 and movable independently there of, is another sleeve 16 which carries the gear 17 in mesh with the reduced gear 18 carried by the shaft 10, which latter sleeve carries the hour hand, not shown.

The numeral 19 designates the escapement bridge which, so far as I am aware, differs both in construction, location and mode of attachment to the plate. It comprises in the main a front plate 20 and rear plate 21 held together by posts 22 and 23, and the bridge as a whole is secured to the front plate by Cir screw posts 24 and 25. Secured to the front plate of the bridge in any approved manner is an arm 26 which serves as a bearing for the balance wheel 2'4".

The numeral 28 designates a shafthaving bearings in the front and rear plates 1 and 2, and this shaft near the front plate carries a pinion 29 in mesh with the gear 11, heretofore i'nentioned, and adjacent to the pinion is a gear 30 wnieh meshes with a pinion 31 on shaft 32 mounted in suitable hearings in the front and rear slates 20 and 21 of the escapement bridge, and the shaft 32 carries a gear wheel 33, which act ites the various elements of the escapement train. The escapenicnt train proper is of usual construction, and need not, it is believed, he further illustrated or described.

The numeral 3% designate. the setting shaft mounted loosely and slidably in the front and rear plates 1 and 2, and this shaft carries at its rear end a niilled head and at its front end a pinion 36 which may be brought into mesh with the gear wheel 12, which according to the foregoing description, the rotation of which will, through the various gears, mow both the hour and minute hands for purposes.

lVhile from the foregoing description, the operation of the mechanism would probably be obvious to those skilled in the art, nevertheless a short; statement of the operation will be made.

The slow rotation. of the spring barrel 5 drives the shaft 10 through the pinion 9 and through the gear 12 carried by the shaft and in mesh with the pinion 13, the minute hand is drivenfand through the reduced gear 18 carried by the shaft 10 which meshes with the gear-l7, the hour hand is driven. The connection with the escapement train is through the gear 11 meshing with the pinion 29 on the shaft 28, the rotation of which imparts motion to the gear wheel 30 meshing with the pinion 31 on the short shaft 32 mounted between the plates of the escapement bridge.

ase

I claim:

1. A clock mechanism comprising front and rear plates in spaced relation to each other, a spring barrel mounted between the plates and provided with a driving gear at its rear end, a shaft journalled bet-ween the plates and provided at its rear end with a pinion in engagement with the driving, gear of the drum, said shaft being also provided at its forward end with two gear wheels, a stub shaft mounted on the front plate, two sleeves inoun'ed 011 said stub shaft, one for the minute hand, and one for the hour hand, a gear wh .l mounted on each sleeve and. in mesh with the wheels on the first mentionetl shaft, whereby the rotation of the rotary shaft will eoniniunicate a movement to the sleeves in proper ratio, an escapeinent brii'lrge secured solely to the front plate and con taining an escapement train, a train of gears between the first mentioned shaft and the escapcincnt train r-zhereby said cscapei'ncnt train is driven.

2. in a clock mechanism, in roinbination. a front and rear plate in spaced relation t-r each other, an escaper'mnt bridge coinpris'" in the main two plates-i secured together, i. in soaeed relation, the front plate of the bridge being spaced from the first niention'al front plate, a spring barrel journalled between the front anu rear ridcd at ment with said driving: gear, a stub suziit mounted on the front plate and harinzi' two slecxes thereon, one for the minute hail-fl, and. one for the hour hand, two gear whee on the shaft in i'nesh with the 1 *ar wheels on the sleeves whereby the hands are r en in the proper ratio, a sua'l't mounted in the eseapement bridge and having" a pinion thereon. a wheel carried by the first men tioned shaft in mesh with said pinion wherethrough the escapement train is (l'l'lt'lfi ln testimony whereof I allix my signature.

SIDNEY G. VINCENT. 

